Connecting with Educators

I have tried for the past few years to attend the ISTE convention. ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education. This year the convention was held in San Antonio and once again I was unable to find the funds to attend. However, this time I discovered (thru Twitter) a wonderful alternative -the Google #notatISTE17 group. 

 I have spent the last three days connecting with educators who are also NOT at ISTE this year and it has been quite a learning experience. Connecting with the #notatISTE17 group has pushed me to reach a bit beyond my comfort zone in a few areas. I played around in Google Draw and created my own notatISTE17 badge and ribbons. I have played with Google Draw before, but I learned a few more techniques. The challenge/Leader Board pushed me to connect and reach out with different forms of social media. Trying to gain more points for the challenges, I found myself watching a few Periscope shares from ISTE17 and posting my picture on Twitter asking for selfies from attendees at ISTE (yikes!). Also, I am finally transforming my classroom blog over into one where I am blogging about my own teaching/learning journey thanks to challenges from the #notatISTE17 group (thank you!).

I was unable to attend ISTE this year, but thanks to Twitter, I connected to a fabulous group of educators and walked away with great resources and new ideas. (Ok, no swag, but I am holding out hope for a really great door prize!)